Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Fragile Earth is home. Will we destroy such beauty?Only time will tell.-K.

This photo was taken by the Apollo 17 crew in 2001. I'm always in awe when I see pictures of the Earth from space. Notice the barren dessert on the north & south ends of the African continent? Hopefully changes from industrial and emerging nations will keep the spread of desert at bay.

There's a rather chilling article and slide show on MSN about what the US could look like in 2100. They mention that what will happen in our climate for the next 20 to 30 years is already determined and irreversible.

Personally, I drive a car that gets on average 30 mpg, even though it's 12 years old. I don't drive aggressively....I coast to stop lights, and basically coast between hitting the gas & brakes.

I also don't buy bottled water. At home, I use the water from the fridge filter. At work, I have my own sports bottle that I fill with water from the company-provided ozone filter station. I recycle my plastic jugs and bags. I shop with reusable shopping bags made from recycled plastic bottles that I bought at Whole Foods Market.

I turn the water off while brushing my teeth. When washing dishes by hand, I don't fill the whole sink with water...I rinse them first, then wash each one with soap/water mix from a bowl while the water is off. Then I rinse them all at once at the end.

I unplug electronics that are use infrequently, and the often used electronics are plugged into a surge protector. Trent at The Simple Dollar has some great articles on why this is important.

On the side at Etsy, I'm making more digital products that people can print themselves, which saves on packaging waste and shipping pollution.

I think being green is also very economical. Wasting water and electricity costs me more with higher utility bills. Wasting less is good for everyone, including your pocketbook and the earth.

Are you doing anything special for Earth Day? What are you doing to help the planet? What do you do to conserve, reduce waste, reuse, and recycle?

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

I just found the coolest thing on Twitter. Search for "#haiku" and see all the neat poems people write.

If you've never heard of a Haiku, it's a Japense form of poetry. No rhyme is required, but the first line must have 5 syllables, the second line 7 syllables, and the third line 5 syllables. It's say as much as possible in as few words as possible, kinda like Twitter.

Friday, April 10, 2009

I'm proud to say that I've gotten my second ever blog feature! It's by Kayla of The Eclectic Element.

Kayla has a very inspirational background and outlook on life. Please visit, and follow, her blog to see a little more about me and her great critique of my shop. Read her crtique well, there's some things that anyone can learn from, not just sellers on Etsy.

Also visit her Etsy shop TheEclecticElement for some beautiful pieces at really great prices. My favorite is her Sunflower Chaos bracelet, pictured below. Doesn't Kayla have some mad photography skills?

Monday, April 6, 2009

I'm a member of the Etsy Texas Crafters Team, and today is the first Monday of the month. That means there's crazy deals on discounts, free shippin, buy-one-get-one (BOGO) and others. These sales and special offers are only available from 12:01 am Monday, April 6th to 12:00 a.m. Tuesday, April 7th, Central Time (that's 1:01am Monday to 1:00am Tuesday, Etsy Time).